King
by Gami-chan
Summary: (full summary inside) Twenty years have passed at Seigaku Junior High, since what was possibly the greatest tennis team to ever grace any school split up to go their separate ways, and now the memory of nationals is but a dream. However, the legendary tea


A/N: I know I have some facts wrong, don't worry. If you have to, think of it as an AU. And Tenipuri isn't mine.  
  
Twenty years have passed at Seigaku Junior High, since what was possibly the greatest tennis team to ever grace any school split up to go their separate ways, and now the memory of nationals is but a dream. It has been eighteen years since the team has gotten to the finals in sectionals, and over fifteen since they even got past the first round. However, the legendary team is not forgotten, and now there is one freshman girl who is determined to find out just how far the mighty have fallen.  
  
King  
  
Kemuri would admit to anyone that she was no tennis expert herself, but what she found upon coming to the old tennis courts even she could tell was pathetic. Players had a hard time even returning the ball, and she saw an unbelievable amount of members using overhand serves. Even the courts themselves were old and unkempt. There were spots where weeds were growing through, and the nets appeared to be in bad repair. Probably due to lack of funding. No one wanted to fund the Seigaku tennis team - they were notorious for being horrible. Feeling a little sad as she watched, she noticed that even the regulars didn't seem to be any good.  
  
It was the end of her second day at school, and she had decided to check out the tennis club, with every intention of joining. Now that she saw it, however, she wasn't so sure. She loved tennis, and knew she wasn't very good herself, but these people were so bad they made her look good.  
  
While she watched, one person turned and seemed to notice her. He turned to one of the others and told him something, then headed towards her.  
  
"Hello. Are you looking to join?" he asked her. He was kind of short, almost feminine, and light-brown hair and reached almost to his shoulders, and a consistant smile that seemed to hold indefinite sadness behind it. He looked to be about thirty-five, though something about him gave him an air of being much, much older.  
  
"I guess I was, but now I'm not so sure..." He didn't seem offended - in fact, he merely kept smiling, surveying the team with a bit of embarrassment.  
  
"I can see why. I'm the team coach, you know." Kemuri gasped. She had no idea!  
  
"I'm sorry," she said, apologizing quickly. He laughed a little. She liked his laugh.  
  
"It's okay," he said, and then, after a pause during which he looked over the courts, "Seigaku wasn't always this bad, you know."  
  
"It wasn't?"  
  
"No... Not many people know this anymore, but before you were born, twenty years ago to be exact, I think, the team of regulars went to and even won nationals." She had never heard anything like this. She had heard that they had always been terrible. "Come with me, and I'll tell you about it..."  
  
She followed him into the club room, leaving the door open, and looked up at him expectantly. He sat on a bench, and motioned for her to do the same. She did. He sighed, and started his story.  
  
"Twenty years ago was when the first freshman that ever became a regular came to the school. The team then was already amazingly strong, and had many incredible players, but the addition of him made the team."  
  
"Who was he?"  
  
"Echizen Ryoma." She gasped.  
  
"No!" Even she had heard of Echizen, possibly the best tennis player to ever play professionally. She heard that he had recently won a world- wide tournament with some of the best players from around the world.  
  
"Yes. He played third singles then, actually. He went pro shortly after graduating from junior high. I'm not sure if he ever even went to high school. The year before he graduated was the last year Seigaku ever made it to the finals. The team was coached by a woman named Ryuzaki Sumire, and some say she was the best coach the school ever saw, despite the fact that she was getting on in her years. I think she passed away not long ago, actually."  
  
Despite never having known the woman, Kemuri felt a pain of sadness for her.  
  
"And who was the captain then?"  
  
"Tezuka Kunimitsu. He also played first singles. You've may have heard of him also. He left for Germany shortly after nationals, I think for some sort of rehabilitation for his arm, and when he came back, played professionally." Kemuri had indeed heard of him, and had even had a small crush on his when she was a little younger. However, she hadn't heard anything about him recently. She voiced her thoughts.  
  
"What happened to him?" For a while, the coach didn't answer. Then, he sighed and leaned back, and the ever-present smile vanished for an instant. Then it was back again.  
  
"He died... Two years ago, in a car crash. It's almost funny... someone as strong as Tezuka killed by a drunken driver. Such a mundane way to die." Kemuri thought it was odd that the coach was talking like he had known the tennis player.  
  
"Then there was the first doubles team. People called them the Golden Pair, and they had earned the name. They were Kikumaru Eiji and Oishi Shuichiro." Kemuri had never heard of either of them. "I think Oishi tried going pro... but gave it up after a while. I never actually found out why, but I suspect that it was because Eiji didn't want to. They were the Golden Pair all through high school as well, if I remember correctly. Quite the lovers, those two." Kemuri's eyes widened.  
  
"Lovers?" she asked, startled, "They were both men?" the coach smiled a little wider.  
  
"Of course. I never saw two other people more synchronized. I think Eiji works at a day-care now, and Oishi is the chairman of the school board. Last I heard, they were pretty well off. In fact, I think they adopted two little girls...  
  
"Then there was Kaidoh. Kaidoh was an incredibly dedicated player. He was famous at the school for a certain move of his - the snake. It curved the ball around... I've never seen anything like it."  
  
"And what happened to him?" Kemuri was fascinated by all of this. And there was something about the coach, as if he'd actually known them, which made it all the more interesting.  
  
"I'm not sure, actually. He went to a different high school, played tennis there, and tried many times to go pro. I think he moved to America several years back, but I'm not sure."  
  
"That's only five players. Who else?"  
  
"There was Kawamura Takashi. Now there's a strange fellow," he chuckled, "He was as timid as could be, until he grasped his racquet. Then he became the most intense player... He never went to high school. He took over his father's sushi shop upon graduating middle school.  
  
"Momoshiro Takeshi was a powerhouse player. He was stronger than anyone on the team, and could hit a ball at incredible speeds. He was also Kaidoh's lifetime rival. I honestly don't know what happened to him, except that he played through high school."  
  
"Inui Sadahara was another odd fellow. He wasn't actually one of the regulars that year, but instead did most of their training. He didn't play tennis past junior high. He got accepted to a prestigious high school, graduated at the top of his class, graduated from Tokyo University with a PhD in Chemistry and Business, and joined the Ponta juice company. I think he's the CEO now, and the main mastermind behind their newest flavor..." The coach trailed off, and the two sat there in a comfortable silence for a while. Not to long later, the coach got up to leave.  
  
"Well, it was nice meeting you, child. I have to get back to my team." as he turned to leave, Kemuri cried out,  
  
"Wait! That can't be everybody! You never told me who played second singles..." The coach halted in his tracks. After a long pause, he turned around slowly, his body framed in the doorway. An eternally sad smile graced his almost feminine face.  
  
"Fuji Shuusuke," he said, "Tennis prodigy. Finishing move was the Swallow Return. He was Tezuka's.... lover, I suppose, before he died. If you want to know what he did... Well, he injured his knee, and, finding he no longer had a chance of going pro, he came back to coach his former junior high school team." Kemuri's mouth dropped open, but before she could say anything, he was gone. Feeling a little dazed, Kemuri slid back down onto her bench. Behind her, something fell. When she looked over her shoulder, she saw a framed picture, dusty and with the glass cracked. She crawled over and carefully removed it from the pile of debris from which it was sitting, and stared at it.  
  
On the very far left was a smiling, stern-looking old woman. Next to her was a tall boy with spiked black hair and purple eyes, grinning and giving bunny ears to the shorter boy who stood in front of him, pulling his cap over his eyes and looking like he was trying not to smile. Next to them was an unsmiling, grumpy-looking boy in a bandanna and a shy looking boy with brown hair. On the left stood a tall boy with spiky black hair, glasses, and a slightly evil grin. In front of him, a pair of boys stood with their arms around each other's waists - one with a grin, a band aid on one cheek, and bright maroon colored hair, and the other with a softer expression, and black hair with two bangs on either side.  
  
In the middle of it all was what was unmistakably the coach, smiling and standing next to a stern looking man with unruly brown hair. If you looked close enough, you would see that, in fact, their hands were touching ever so slightly. Kemuri thought the smile on the coach's face was the most sincere one she had ever seen.  
  
Ah, how the mighty have fallen. 


End file.
